Thursday, June 19, 2014

I discovered Sturgill Simpson earlier this year while I was putting together my SXSW 2014 Spotify playlist. Generally, I would have heard the classic country sound of his music and dismissed it as not for me but his song titles were so good it made me listen more closely. Simpson may sound like an old-school country dude and he is but he's an old-school country dude through a contemporary filter. He's cynical, he's familiar with psychotropics and his voice is like honey. If this dude's not on your radar, he probably should be.

Sturgill Simpson - The Promise video via YouTube
This brand-new video for The Promise is great but it doesn't really showcase what makes Sturgill Simpson a special snowflake in the world of country music. For that I'm going to take you a bit deeper to a track from his first LP. This performance was put together by My Old Kentucky Blog, who has been a champion of this artist for years already. Isn't it time you get on the Sturgill Simpson bandwagon?

Sturgill Simpson - You Can Have the Crown -> Some Days video via YouTube

I honestly have no idea what is happening in this new video from Papertwin but I'm a total sucker for this dark synth-wave sound.

Papertwin - Arco video via YouTube
Are we looking at a trashbag as the video starts? What's with all the trashbags on the fence? Hey, why do they have trashbags on their heads?!? That's not safe! Don't these girls know fur is murder? Who wears a trashbag on their head to the beach? That just seems unsavory. Is that a hospital gown or something I can buy at American Apparel? They wear bags on their heads AND they smoke?! Eww, was that a giant Coors Light? And they're sharing it? No. Oh shit, they dancing in the streets, they dancin at the gas pump. Twerk white girl twerk! Get a photo of me looking bored while you dance behind me, then we'll huff something from those handy trashbags. Have you ever tried smoking in the bathtub? It's pretty much a waste of cigarettes. #soggy

So what's with that Yankees fan at the end? Is that their Dad or could he tell they were Red Sox fans just inherently? Regardless, I feel like the message of this video is...hang on, I know this one. Is it about homelessness? Were they homeless? Are those girls runaways? Do runaways wear furs? Maybe it was a commercial for Coors Light? Or gas stations? Or twerking? Maybe it's just about YOLO? Are you about YOLO? What if Drake got reincarnated, we he still say YOLO to his new caterpillar community?